Just wondering if anyone has hiked from Border Ranges NP to Lamington NP or vice versa ... I understand the trail leads off the Brindle Creek track and join with the actual border fence soon after, which eventually returns to the Border Track.

brettfred7 wrote:Just wondering if anyone has hiked from Border Ranges NP to Lamington NP or vice versa ... I understand the trail leads off the Brindle Creek track and join with the actual border fence soon after, which eventually returns to the Border Track.

Every now & then a bushwalking club will have a exploratory walk out to Cockscombs Point, which is supposed to have great views.....but apart from that I'm guessing those that have traversed the route would be few & far between.

I did this section about 25 years ago and there was a very faint foodpad. Even when bushwalking club did go there it really slow going, thick rain forest and not many views. That section may not be too hard to navigate because you keep the escarpment on one side of you. The border is hard to navigate and is a compass March, I have been misplace in their a few times. Good luck , I will follow this post.

Brindle Ck flows westward from the Tweed range. You can drive to Brindle Ck from NSW only. A circuit road one way takes you from Brindle Ck to a spur overlooking Gradys Ck and turns back along Tweed range (southward). A clearing with a toilet called 'Antarctic Beech, is a highpoint with limited views over the rainforest, toward the border. This area was long ago used for war games etc. It has experienced resurgences in bushwalking interest over the decades, ie 1950's, 1970's and had tracks cut. Generally it means alot of introduced species of pest plants. Treefall is the biggest problem. It can bring down wait a while vines with it and means huge diversions to relocate a track. I 've taken three different routes to Tweed Trig over the years. The days of a graded track are long gone. About 15 yrs ago i was more frequently using one particular route. It was then off track but still a pad, a followable route down to Grady's Ck. It wasn't hard then to find the graded track which zig zagged up to a point several hundred metres west of Tweed Trig. More recently i have thrice taken different routes back and forth to Tweed Trig. It is overgrown and seemingly little visited these days at all. It is essentially a crossing of the valley which holds Grady's ck. A descent of a hundred metres or more, over a kilometre or so in distance and an ascent in the same direction (north) for about the same distance and height. Sounds easy put that way. If you study the map, the logical deduction would be to follow the escarpment overlooking Tweed and simply skirt the origins of all the tributaries of Grady's Ck. The line would soon take you NW back toward the eastern point of Tweed Trig. This would have been the first option for anyone when the place became of interest. It has unfortunately suffered more regrowth than anywhere. You cannot a stay on the top of the escarpment for the vegetation. It forces you westward to have to negotiate the gullies.In short, expect an off track walk and allow some time.You may ask why i am so frequently in the area. It is usually associated with placing water drops and caches for excursions where we might travel the length of the escarpment in a day. We once went from Antarctic Beech to Numinbah tick gate in 12hrs. The recent visits to drop water off at Tweed trig were to support a re-enactment of that day. That had to be the equivalent of a 50k hike. To repeat it means starting at 3am and that is dense rainforest so a headlamp and good recent knowledge of the route is essential. Conditions currently do not allow easy,fast travel and in the dark. In regard to walking the scenic rim in its entirety. It has taken me between 8 , 10 and 12 days , depending on how my logistics were set up. Getting water usually means descending the watershed, so water caches save time on a walk. It is not practical now to move between Richmond Gap (Lyons Rd) along the border fence (fallen and no longer maintained) over Mt.Gipps , Nungulba and on to Tweed Trig when the option of crossing Running Ck and using the stretcher track to Point Lookout is in much better condition.